On the day of an ablation, you will come to University of Iowa Health Care. All Afib ablations are done in the cardiac catheterization lab (cath lab).
You will check in at the Cardiac Procedure Recovery Unit (CPRU), where you will get ready.
Before the procedure
You will be given a sedative to help you relax. You will also get an IV into a vein in your arm to give you medicine and fluids.
During the procedure
You will not be awake during the procedure. A local anesthetic may be used to numb the skin where the catheters will be placed into your groin. The catheters are guided to your heart.
Ablation catheters send heat or cold energy, or electrical pulses to the heart tissue in the top left chamber. This creates small scars that block the abnormal signals from coming from the veins that bring blood back from the lungs.
The procedure takes one to four hours.
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